192 



CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



"At the meeting of Congress, but before the 

 President had delivered his message, and before 

 his views had been officially communicated, the 

 Kepublican members, in caucus, determined to 

 raise a committee of fifteen to ' inquire into 

 the condition of the States which formed the 

 so-called Confederate States of America, and 

 report whether they or any of them are entitled 

 to be represented in either House of Congress.' 

 In most indecent haste the resolution passed 

 both branches, and the committee became 

 fastened upon Congress and the country. Be- 

 cause of its party origin, the work it had to do, 

 and the secret character of its proceedings, that 

 committee came to be known in the country 

 as the ' revolutionary tribunal,' the ' direc- 

 tory,' and the ' star chamber.' Its first re- 

 port was made some months since, in which 

 it was proposed to reduce the representation 

 of the Southern States ; but by the aid of the 

 distinguished Senator from Massachusetts (Mr. 

 Sumner), who submits to party restraints upon,. 

 his judgment with impatience, that measure 

 was defeated. Its second report is now upon 

 our desks. It passed the House, but when it 

 came under discussion in the Senate, and had 

 to bear the test of the independent judgment 

 of Senators, it was found wanting, and its defeat 

 became almost certain. A second defeat of a 

 party programme could not be borne ; its effect 

 upon the fall elections would be disastrous. 

 A caucus was called, and we witnessed the 

 astounding spectacle of the withdrawal, for the 

 time, of a great legislative measure, touching 

 the Constitution itself, from the Senate, that it 

 might be decided in the secret councils of a 

 party. For three days the Senate-chamber 

 was silent, but the discussions were transferred 

 to another room of the Capitol, with closed 

 doors and darkened windows, where party 

 leaders might safely contend for a political and 

 party policy. 



" When Senators returned to their seats I was 

 curious to observe who had won and who lost 

 in the party lottery. The dark brow of the 

 Senator from New Hampshire (Mr. Clark) was 

 lighted with a gleam of pleasure. His proposed 

 substitute for the third section was the marked 

 feature of the measure. But upon the lofty 

 brow of the Senator from Nevada (Mr. Stewart) 

 there rested a cloud of disappointment and 

 grief. His bantling, which he had named uni- 

 versal amnesty and universal suffrage, which he 

 had so often dressed and undressed in the pres- 

 ence of the Senate, the darling offspring of his 

 brain, was dead ; it had died in the caucus ; and 

 it was left to the sad Senator only to hope that 

 it might not be his last. Upon the serene coun- 

 tenance of the Senator from Maine, the chair- 

 man of the fifteen, there rested the composure 

 of the highest satisfaction ; a plausible political 

 platform had been devised, and there was yet 

 hope for his party. 



" In this weighty business now before us what 

 are the facts? The House sent us four prop- 

 ositions to change the Constitution in one bill. 



Upon discussion it was found that probably no 

 one of the propositions, nor any proposed mod- 

 ification thereof, could receive the required 

 vote. Two-thirds of the Senators, belonging 

 to one political party, retired from the Senate 

 to consider and agree upon a bill. Each Sen- 

 ator by going into the secret caucus, agreed and 

 became bound to vote for whatever the majority 

 of the caucus should adopt. A section or an 

 entire bill may be adopted by a bare majority 

 of the caucus, much less than one-half the Sen- 

 ate, but the entire two-thirds must vote for it 

 in the Senate, not because it is right, but because 

 the majority of the caucus has said so; and thus 

 an amendment of the Constitution may be adopt- 

 ed by the Senate when a majority of the body 

 would vote against it if no party obligation 

 rested upon them. What Senator would dare 

 propose to shut these doors against the people, 

 that we in secret might take steps to change 

 their great charter of liberty ? The people 

 would not endure it, but in congregating thou- 

 sands would burst them open and demand to 

 know all that was said and done upon a matter 

 of such interest to them. The present proposed 

 amendment has been decided upon in a conclave 

 more secret than has ever been known in this 

 country. 



"So carefully has the obligation of secresy 

 been observed that no outside Senators, not 

 even the sharp-eyed men of the press, have 

 been able to learn one word that was spoken, 

 or one vote given. An Egyptian darkness 

 covers the proceeding. The secret could not 

 be more profound had the conclave assembled 

 down in the deep and dark caverns of the earth. 

 If you change the Constitution, have the peo- 

 ple not the right to know how and why it is 

 done, what was proposed and said, and how 

 each Senator voted ? Is it not their business ? 

 Or indeed have they masters, party chieftains, 

 who may say to them, ' We govern, you obey? 

 Is it not a fact that should arrest attention, that 

 since this measure was reported from the caucus 

 scarce an explanation has been conceded, and 

 not one amendment offered or voted for by a 

 single Senator who was in the caucus, so exact- 

 ing and imperative is the obligation, and so lit- 

 erajly is party authority obeyed? Sir, if the 

 people can only come to know how this thing 

 has been done, I believe they will refuse their 

 indorsement. 



" I now propose a brief examination of the 

 measure as it came from the caucus. It pro- 

 poses an additional article of five sections, ma- 

 king that number of amendments or additions 

 to the Constitution. 



" For the first section the virtue is claimed 

 that it defines citizenship of the United States 

 and of the States. I will read that part of the 

 section : 



All persons born in the United States, and subject 

 to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United 

 States and of the State wherein they reside. 



" What citizenship is, what are its rights and 

 duties, its obligations and liabilities, are not 



